SHORT COMMUNICATION Sub-divisions Within the Genus Leuconostoc as Shown by RNA/DNA Hybridization

RNA/DNA hybridization studies were carried out using material from strains of the different species of Leuconostoc and of Lactobacillus confusus and Lactobacillus viridescens. The non-acidophilic species Leuconostoc mesenteroides, its sub-species dextranicum and cremoris, Leuconostoc lactis and Leuconostoc paramesenteroides form a single group. This is unrelated to Leuconostoc oenos and also to the two lactobacilli. There is only a low relationship between the two lactobacilli.